This is part of an ongoing Journal series about my thoughts and learnings around planning our wedding. Follow along on instagram for all updates and check back every week for blog entries!

I mentioned before that I'm indecisive — I like to investigate all the options before making a decision. And I'm not kidding around. I'll paint a clear picture for you how painfully I make decisions and let you know I have a spreadsheet with 152 venue options in NYC. You read that right.152. How I thought wedding planning would be a breeze is beyond me...

If it helps, I only emailed about 50 of those venues, and talked on the phone with about 10.

A few things I was keeping mind when screening the venues: We want to keep the wedding and reception small and intimate with around 50-75 guests, so massive wedding halls were not part of the plan. I liked the idea of an outdoor wedding, but the last thing this anxious chick wanted to do was to worry about weather and temperature. Most importantly, given my unhealthy obsession with this city, I wanted the venue to feel very New York and ideally, very Brooklyn.

Cue "Empire State of Mind."

My search took me from cozy neighborhood restaurants like Chez Moi, to art galleries, to more "mainstream" venues like the Gramercy Park Hotel (their terrace is to die for!). What I learned is that many venues have food & drink spend minimum depending on season and day of week. For a Sunday in October, the food & drink minimums ranged from $8,000 to $35,000 for the venues on my list.

Word of advice to future wedding newbies like me: get married in the winter. You'll literally pay half price the price of a Summer/Fall wedding for many popular venues in the city.

After crossing off top contenders too expensive, too dingy, too small, too big — Josh and I landed on the DUMBO Loft in Brooklyn!

It doesn't get much more Brooklyn than this, does it? Those brick walls, the industrial, roll-up windows, the location. It's not the glitziest of spaces but I can totally see us along with our friends and family on our wedding day in this space. Just right. It didn't hurt that the price was very reasonable for New York standards. Shoutout to Josh's parents for vetting the space in person.

The venue is a raw space which does mean we'll need to bring in our own catering, decor, florist, etc. To be honest, I'm not sure whether I should be excited or nervous about the flexibility given that we're planning our wedding ourselves, but I guess we'll find out in the months to come. Many more decisions to make, but one thing's for sure...

See you Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

Your Bridezilla-in-the-Making,Do-Hee

For more frequent updates about our wedding planning, follow along on instagram!